Mars rover landing celebrated in Hampton

At 1:31 a.m. Eastern time, the robotic rover Curiosity touched down safe, sound and on schedule on the surface of Mars — defying the 1-in-3 odds and sending NASA scientists and engineers from Hampton to Pasadena into high-fiving, back-slapping exultation.

"We have landed," said Michelle Munk as she emceed the Mars landing broadcast live at the IMAX Theater at the Virginia Air & Space Center. Munk is an aerospace engineer at NASA Langley Research Center.

"Landed at the time we thought we would," she added. "And we have an image."

The sold-out theater audience burst into applause.

Not only did the Mars Science Laboratory, or MSL, land as scheduled, but in a surprise development it immediately sent back two images from the Martian surface.

They were black-and-white and grainy from all the Martian dust kicked up during landing, and the subject matter was insignificant by Earth standards: a wheel and a shadow.

But the wheel belonged to the rover, as did the shadow as it was cast on Gale Crater — the site NASA believes is best suited to study whether the red planet ever supported life, or ever could in future.

"I'm feeling really relieved and excited," Munk said minutes after the landing. "Not too surprised. We have a tendency to pull off fantastic feats."

This feat was a nail-biter, especially for Langley scientists who were instrumental in the craft's crucial entry, descent and landing phase. A phase so high-risk, they called it the "seven minutes of terror."

Some 283 local residents had gathered at the Air & Space Center to watch the pulse-pounding proceedings broadcast from mission control at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. They settled in with popcorn and soda to watch rows of blue-shirted rocket scientists onscreen usher in the next level of space exploration.

The Curiosity is the most ambitious, most sophisticated Mars science project ever attempted by Earthlings — a $2.5 billion mission to answer the question, "Did life ever exist on Mars?"

The prospect was enough for Ahmad Nashat to bring his wife and daughters to the Air & Space Center in the middle of the night for Mars-related interactive exhibits and the live broadcast of the landing.

"This is a really big event," said Nashat, who works on aircraft safety at NASA Langley. "I knew this was going to be an adventure for the girls."

Mark Kulick of Williamsburg brought his 15-year-old granddaughter. Minutes before the landing, he crossed his fingers.

"I hope it works — I really do," said Kulick. "NASA has done so many marvelous things in advanced science. This would be another milestone."

Kulick designs and builds laser systems at Langley, but had no role in the Curiosity.

Langley engineers designed the supersonic parachute that had to slow the spacecraft from 13,000 mph so a rocket-powered sky crane could lower it to a soft landing on the surface. They were responsible for the instruments embedded in the craft's heat shield to study the Martian atmosphere during descent, and the mini-computer that controls the firing of a laser to blast apart Martian rocks for study. They conducted hundreds of millions of computer simulations to make sure the science worked; more simulations continued throughout the landing.

The flight mechanics engineer who headed up those simulations, Jody Davis, was given the honor of announcing the moment when the Curiosity touched down.

It was a moment for others to bask in, as well.

"I'm happier than I thought I was going to be," said NASA Langley spokesman Mike Finneran. "It's just incredible."

Curiosity is expected to begin sending high-resolution color images to Earth soon, as well as begin analyzing the Martian surface.

"Curiosity is now a Martian," Finneran said. "An Earthling gone to Mars."